Yo-yo Effect - Effects On Health

Effects On Health

This kind of diet is associated with extreme food deprivation as a substitute for good diet and exercise techniques. As a result, the dieter may experience loss of both muscle and body fat during the initial weight-loss phase (weight-bearing exercise is required to maintain muscle). After completing the diet, the dieter is likely to experience the body's starvation response, leading to rapid weight gain of only fat. This is a cycle that changes the body's fat-to-muscle ratio, one of the more important factors in health. One study in rats showed those made to yo-yo diet were more efficient at gaining weight. However the research compiled by Atkinson et al. (1994) showed that there are “no adverse effects of weight cycling on body composition, resting metabolic rate, body fat distribution, or future successful weight loss”, and that there is not enough evidence to show risk factors for cardiovascular disease being directly dependent on cyclical dieting patterns. Yo-yo dieting can have extreme emotional and physical ramifications due to the stress that someone puts on themselves to lose weight quickly. The instant gratification of losing the weight eventually gives way to old eating habits that cause weight gain and emotional distress.

Since there is “no single definition of weight cycling can be endorsed”, it is almost impossible for research to draw specific conclusions about the actual effects of cyclical dieting, until it becomes more definitely defined.